Lawyer: Ex-judge In Orange Lied To Protect Others

August 22, 1985|By Jim Leusner of The Sentinel Staff

A federal prosecutor charged Wednesday that former Orange County Judge Ed Hanlon Jr. lied to a grand jury in May to protect other associates and to prevent a ''Pandora's box'' from being opened in a corruption probe.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Calvacca said Hanlon denied that he discussed setting up illegal gambling in Orange County in 1981 because he thought his story could not be challenged.

''But evil words that men sometime speak achieve their own immortality,'' Calvacca told the jury during opening arguments of Hanlon's perjury trial in U.S. District Court in Orlando.

Conversations that Hanlon had with an associate, Elvin Carroll of Kissimmee, secretly were recorded by an undercover FBI agent posing as a gambler. The agent was investigating allegations that Orange-Osceola State Attorney Robert Eagan was corrupt and used Hanlon and Carroll as ''bag men'' for bribes, Calvacca said.

Eagan has denied accepting any bribes.

Hanlon's attorney, Bill Barnett, has maintained that Hanlon, 60, was an alcoholic at the time and that he did not remember the 1981 discussions when he testified before the grand jury.

''He simply does not remember these events and discussions,'' Barnett told the jury. ''He simply did not lie. These events were not in his memory.''

Barnett said Hanlon will testify that he offered to take a lie detector test to back up his claims. Barnett said several state court judges also will attest to Hanlon's character and reputation for truthfulness.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Turner testified Wednesday that the FBI began investigating Eagan in late 1979 after convicted cocaine dealer Robert Taccia, formerly of Maitland, charged that Eagan double-crossed him after accepting a bribe in 1978 to ''lose'' key tape-recorded evidence in a drug case. Taccia claimed that Carroll, who has since died, relayed the bribes to Eagan.

Calvacca said an undercover FBI agent was introduced to Carroll, who told the agent he could bribe Eagan. But in October 1980 Taccia made his allegations against Eagan and Carroll public.

Carroll never arranged a meeting between the agent and Eagan. But in early 1981 Carroll introduced the agent to Hanlon, who he said also could pass bribes to Eagan.

The key witness in the case is former undercover FBI agent Michael Sullivan, who is expected to testify today.

Hanlon is charged with lying about talking to Carroll and the agent; discussing the use of radios, scanners and electronic listening devices to prevent police raids; and offering legal advice in exchange for a percentage of the profits.